Francesc Vendrell is seeking a major increase in the manpower of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which has a mandate limited to Kabul and its vicinity.

“Shortly after East Timor was placed under United Nations authority, there was a multinational force of 9-10,000 in a territory half the size of Belgium,” the Spaniard noted.

“In Kosovo, we have had until now some 40,000 forces.

“In Afghanistan ISAF and the coalition forces have around 15,000.

“That level of commitment by the internatinal community in a country it promised not to abandon two years ago is something that needs to be reflected on,” he added, recalling the global focus on Afghanistan, which was sheltering Osama bin Laden – leader of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda – in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

Vendrell, who was head of a UN mission to Afghanistan before being appointed the EU’s emissary there in 2002, spoke out during a visit to Brussels for talks with Javier Solana, the Union’s high representative for foreign affairs.

He declined to recommend a specific figure for swelling ISAF’s ranks but said: “A few thousand more ISAF troops would make a huge difference if properly deployed in Afghanistan.”

Vendrell described the resurgence of Taliban fighters in the south and south-east of the country over the past six weeks as one of the main factors behind recent instability.

He acknowledged that the Pashtun ethnic community – the Taliban’s kinfolk – feel that the Kabul government is aloof from it.

“If the Pashtun population feels – rightly or wrongly – that they are alienated or discriminated against, they are more likely to…I wouldn’t say welcome the Taliban but perhaps be more passive towards it.”

He also contended “an awful lot needs to be done” to prepare for elections in Afghanistan.

Scheduled for June next year, these are designed to give the country its first taste of democracy in some 30 years.

The EU is insisting that every effort must be made to allow the female population, denied the right to schooling under the Taliban, to take part in the vote.

As a result, it is seeking that separate voter election campaigns be run for men and women and that areas resisting female suffrage be convinced that they will have “their political weight reduced by half”.